The Snow Roads Audax

The Snow Roads Audax

A challenging ride on the snow roads of Angus

Audacious – adjective extremely bold or daring; recklessly brave; fearless: an audacious explorer

Join Skinny Tyres on a supported cycling tour of the Snow Roads

Audax rides started in Europe a little over one hundred years ago. The name, which is derived from the word audacious, was chosen to reflect the challenging nature of these events: in loosely controlled groups, cyclists complete a set distance, measured in kilometres, and are timed through a number of control points where their cards are stamped as evidence of their passing. These cards are known as brevet cards.

Still as popular as ever, there are literally hundreds of Audax rides going on throughout the year on quality routes in the UK.

The Snow Roads is an Audax event organised by Alex and Allison Pattison who are members of Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club. Together, they have organised it for the last four years and this year looks to be bigger than ever.

“The best rides are the ones where you bite off
much more than you can chew, and live through it”
– Doug Bradbury

This 300 km route has taken on a mythical status and, with almost 5,000 m of climbing, many regard it as one of the hardest in the UK. If you listen to the winter travel reports, you will be very familiar with the names of some of the roads along the way: the Cairn o’Mount, the Lecht and the Cairnwell are often among the first roads to be closed due to snowfall. Hence, the name of this route. The time limit is just over 20 hours and riders set off at 6 am. The fastest ones complete the route in about thirteen hours. However, Audax events are not meant as races: the challenge is to complete the route within the time limit.

If it all sounds a little too adventurous for you, then the Pattisons also run a shorter 100 km ride, run on the same day, known as ‘Potter for Tea’. This is much more relaxed with a time limit of just under nine hours.

Both events attract riders from all over the UK; club cyclists, triathletes, tourers, mountain bikers and leisure riders have all tackled the challenge and it has even been completed by a couple on a tandem.

In recent years there has been a surge in sportive cycling events that, like an Audax are non-competitive timed rides.  So if you are wondering what the difference between the two is, I’ll leave you to ponder on the old joke:

Q: What’s the difference between a sportive and an Audax?

A: A Sportive is for people who like to pretend they are racing whereas an Audax is for people who like to pretend they are not racing.